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"MORGAN'S MEN" 

A 

Narrative of Personal Experiences 

EY 

HENRY LANE STONE 

DELIVERED BEFORE 

GEORGE B. EASTIN CAMP, No. 803 
United Confederate Veterans 

AT THE 

FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY 

LOUISVILLE. KY. 

April 8. 1919 



WBrruFiBLO-BoNTV Ca. ikcoiporatsd. Louitvitx*. Kt. 



^o^r^^y 



"MORGAN'S MEN" 

A 

Narrative of Personal Experiences 

BY 

HENRY LANE STONE 

DELIVERED BEFORE 

GEORGE B. EASTIN CAMP, No. 803 

United Confederate Veterans 

AT THE 

FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY 

LOUISVILLE, KY. 

April 8, 1919 



cr 



Author 
lOL 26 I9K 





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PREFACE 



This narrative is printed in pamphlet form to 
comply with the request of numerous friends and to 
meet the suggestion contained in the editorial notice 
of the Louisville Evening Post in its issue of May 29, 
1919, as follows : 

"MORGAN'S MEN." 

*'The Evening Post has received a copy of an ad- 
dress delivered a short time ago before the George B. 
Eastin Camp of Confederate Veterans, by Col. Henry 
L. Stone, of the Louisville bar, general counsel of the 
Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company, the ad- 
dress being largely in the nature of a narrative by the 
speaker of his personal experiences as a soldier in the 
famous cavalry command of Gen. John II. Morgan. 

''The Evening Post much regrets that it can not 
find the space for this exciting and instructive story. 
It covers thirty type-written pages, or seven or eight 
columns in our print, and the story is so well told that 
we feel that nothing could be eliminated, and all that 
is possible is to express the hope that either Colonel 
Stone or the local camp of veterans will later see fit 
to issue the address in pamphlet form. Certainly we 
have never seen elsewhere in so condensed a form so 
vivid a picture of the war-time experiences of those 
dashing cavalrymen that the people of the South still 
allude to as "Morgan's Men." 



''Passing by this narrative as something that one 
who did not participate therein is incompetent even 
to review, the Evening Post would call attention, 
if only for the importance it may have relative to the 
soldiers now returning to civil life, to the part played 
in the affairs of Kentucky and the Union by these 
soldiers of Morgan's command after the war was 
over. It was a very creditable part. No doubt there 
were the few exceptions that prove the rule, but, as a 
broad proposition, wherever one of "Morgan's Men" 
settled, the community gained a good citizen. We 
will not attempt to call the roll of those who helped 
to make the history of Louisville in the past fifty 
years. Many of them, indeed, have passed away — 
Basil W. Duke, John B. Castleman, George B. Eas- 
tin, Thomas W. Bullitt and others whose names re- 
call the best traditions of Louisville. Henry L. Stone 
remains with us, vigorous in bod3% keen in mind, al- 
ways ready to fight, and fight hard, for a good cause, 
an ornament to the bar and a splendid specimen of 
that splendid manhood that the soldiers of the Con- 
federacy furnished a reunited country." 



Comrades, Ladies and Gentlemen: 

I was asked by Col. Milton, our commander, to 
give a '^ talk" to our Camp this evening. I see, though, 
in his notices which he sent out — I received one — 
and in the newspapers, he has dignified what I am to 
say to you as an ''address." I will leave it to you, 
after 1 get through, whether it is one or the other, or 
both. 

I regret that I have not had an opportunity to 
prepai'e much that would be worth while to my Com- 
rades who are here to-night, but will deal with some 
of my own experiences duripg the Civil War and 
give you a narrative of them. This I will undertake 
to do, with the hope my account may prove somewhat 
interesting to you. I can only vouch for the truth- 
fulness of what I shall detail from my own personal 
knowledge. 

There is no tie of friendship so strong and lasting 
as that wrought by a common service among soldiers 
(Migaged in a common cause. Time and distance are 
powerless to sever such a tie or to erase from memory 
the vivid recollections of dangers encountered and 
hardships endured. 

On a September night nearly fifty-eight years ago, 
John H. Morgan led forth from the City of Lexing- 
ton bis littk' squadron of faithful followers, who 
formed tile nucleus of that gallant coinmand which 
afterward, undei" bis matchless leadershi]), executed 
so man\- bi-illinnl militarx- acbievements and won for 



him mid tliemselves imperishable renown. Gen. Mor- 
gan's bold, original, and skillful methods of war- 
fare attracted the admiration of thousands of young 
men in Kentucky, and even other States, who en- 
thusiastically gathered under his banner. 

EARLY TRAINING. ADVOCATE OF STATE RIGHTS. 

As already stated, I propose on this occasion to 
give an account of some of my own experiences as one 
of Morgan's Men. A native of Bath County, Ky., 
when a boy nine years old, I became a resident of 
Putnam County, Ind.^ to which State my father re- 
moved in the autumn of 1851. In the presidential 
campaign of 18()0, at the age of eighteen, I canvassed 
my Countv' for Breckinridge and Lane. There were 
three other young men representing the tickets of 
Abraham Lincoln, John Bell and Stephen A. Doug- 
las, respectively. We styled ourselves : ' ' The Hoosier 
Bo>'s — ^All Parties Represented," and canvassed the 
County, speaking on Saturday afternoons at as man}^ 
as ten or a dozen points before the day of election. 

Wlien the War between the States came on, I was 
an earnest advocate of State rights, and determined 
to embrace the first opportunity offered to go South 
and enlist in that cause, which I believed to be right. 
Three of my brothers were in the Federal army, but 
I could not conscientiously go with them. 



LEAVING INDIANA TO JOIN THE CONFEDERATE ARMV. 

On September 18, 1862, after the battle of Big 
Hill, near Richmond, Ky., and the occupation of 
this State by the forces of Gens. Smith and Marshall, 
I pnt aside the study of law, bade farewell to m}^ 
parents, and left Indiana to join the Confederate 
army. I came to Cincinnati while it was under mar- 
tial law^, passed the pickets above the city, in a 
countryman's market wagon, took a boat at New^ 
Richmond, Ohio, and landed on a Sunday morning 
at Augusta, Ky. That day I attended Sunday-school 
in Augusta, and walked to Milton, in Bracken 
County, where I stayed all night. The next day I 
reached Cynthiana, and found there the first con- 
federate soldiers I ever saw, being a portion of Mor- 
gan's Men under Col. Basil W. Duke. I remember 
I was struck with the odd appearance of some of 
these soldiers, particularly observing their large rat- 
tling spurs and broad-brimmed hats, many of which 
were pinned up on one side with a crescent or star. 

DIIKE'S Fir.HT AT AliOrSTA, KY. 

This w^as but a few days before Col. Duke's des- 
perate fight at Augusta. 

An incident occurs to my mind here. Ten years 
later I was Democratic Elector for the Ninth Con- 
gressional District, making a cam])aig]i in behalf of 
Greeley and Brown, and Augusta was one of my 
points to s])eak. Wliile at the hotel tliat night, a 
young man came to my room and tiiat of lion. John 



B. Young', who was the Democratic candidate for 
Congress and traveling with me, and he told us all 
about the fight of Col. Duke, what a bloody affair 
it was, and how the people had noticed a young man 
a few days before passing through Augusta and go- 
ing to Sunday-school, and they attributed Duke's 
plans to that young man's story of how conditions 
were in Augusta ; in other words, that he had acted 
as a spy for Duke. I said, "Young man, you are 
mistaken about that matter and your people are mis- 
taken. I was the lad that came thi-ough your town 
and' went to Sunday-school, but I had then no idea 
of Duke's contemplated fight whatever, and did not 
know anything about it until after it occurred, so you 
are all laboring under a mistake in thinking T had 
anything to do with it." 

ENLISTIMENT IN THE CONFEDERATE ARMY. 

I arrived at Mount Sterling, and set foot "(^n my 
native heath," in Bath County, within a week after 
my departui'c from Indiana. 

On October 7, 1862, T enlisted at Sharpsburg in 
Capt. (t. M. Coleman's company, composed chiefly 
of my boyhood schoolmates and belonging to Maj. 
Robert (1. Stoner's battalion of cavalry, which was 
subsequently, in Middle Tennessee, consolidated with 
Maj. Wm. C. P. Bi-eckinridge's battalion, thus form- 
the 9th Kentucky Regiment in Morgan's command. 

I was appointed sergeant major of Maj. Stoner's 
battalion, and served in that capacity until the con- 



solidation mentioned, when I became ordnance ser- 
geant of the regiment. Since the War I have l)een 
promoted to the position of "Colonel," Init I never 
was a Commissioned officer. 

THE BATTLE AT HARTS\1LLE. 

Sixty days after my enlistment our regiment was 
engaged in its first fight at Hartsville, Tenn., where 
Col. Morgan won his commission as brigadier general 
and achieved, perhaps, his most brilliant victory by 
killing and w^ounding over four hundred of the enemy 
and capturing two splendid Parrott guns with more 
than two thousand prisoners. On the day after this 
battle, I wrote a letter to my father and mother (the 
original of Avhich has been preserved), headed as fol- 
lows: ''In camp two miles from Gen. Morgan's 
headquarters and eight miles from Murfreesboro on 
the Lebanon Pike, Monday, December 8, 1862." The 
fight occurred on Sunday. 

Among other things, I gave in this letter the fol- 
lowing account of our engagement at Hartsville, 
which ma}^ serve to illustrate the exuberance of 
spirits felt over that victory by a soldier of twenty 
years of age, after only two months' service: 

' We've had only one battle yet, and that was 
on yesterday at Hartsville, in this State. I'll 
give you a short description of it. Day before 
yesterday morning at nine o'clock we left camp 
with all of Morgan's Brigade, exc('])t two regi- 
ments (Duke's and Gano's), and also the Ninth 



and Second Kmtueky Regiments of Gen Roger 
Hanson's l)rigade of infantry — in all about 
twenty-five hundred men, with five or six pieces 
of artillery. We marched through Le))anon, and 
went into camp after traveling thirty- four miles. 
Our battalion and two ])ieces of artillery were 
within four miles of the enemy. The other por- 
tions of our force took another route, crossing 
the Cumberland in the night and getting in the 
enemy's rear. We left camp after sleeping one 
hour and a half, and got in position in five hun- 
dred yards of the enemy at five o'clock in the 
morning, before it was light. This hour was set 
by Moi'gan to begin the attack on the enemy on 
all sides; and well was it carried out, Morgan's 
portion firing the first gun. The firing soon be- 
came general, and of all the fighting ever done 
that was the hottest for an hour and fifteen 
minutes. The bombs fell thick and fast over our 
heads, while Morgan's men yelled at every step, 
we all closing in on the Yankees. T fired my 
gun only tw'o or three times. We took the whole 
force prisoners, about twenty-two hundred men, 
the lOth Illinois, lOGth and lOSth Ohio, and two 
hundred Indiana cavalrymen, with two pieces 
of artillery. We took also all their small arms, 
wagons, etc. 

Then occurs in this lettei- what may seem now 
somewhat ludicrous, but it is here and I will read it: 

I captured a splendid overcoat, lined through 
and through, a fine l)lack cloth coat, a pair of 
new woolen socks, a horse nuizzle to feed in. an 
Enfield rifle, a lot of pewter plates, knives and 



9 

forks, a good supply of smokiiic; tol)aeco, an ex- 
tra good cavalry saddle, a halter, and a pair of 
buckskin gloves, lined with lamb's wool — all of 
which things I needed." 

The officers of the forces captured were paroled 
and sent through the lines. One of them promised to 
see that this letter reached its destination, and in it T 
stated : 

I'll tell you how I've met with a chance to 
send this to you. It is by a very gentlemanly 
Yankee lieutenant whom we captured yesterday 
who says he'll mail it to you from Nashville, and 
I think he'll be as good as his word. I shall leave 
it unsealed, and he'll get it through for me with- 
out trouble, I think. 

But he failed to discharge the trust he had as- 
sumed. Some three weeks afterwards it was found 
at Camp Chase, Ohio, and sent to my father by a man 
named Samuel Kennedy. 

THE CHRISTMAS RAID INTO KENTUCKY. 

On our celebrated raid into Kentucky dui'ing the 
Christmas holidays of 1862 we captured at Mul- 
draugh's Hill an Indiana regiment of about eight 
hundred men, who were recruited principally in Put- 
nam County, many of whom were my old friends and 
acquaintances. I saw and conversed with a number 
of them while prisoners in our charge, and had my 
fellow-soldiers show them as much kindness as pos- 
sible under the circumstances. This reeiment had 



10 

only a few montlis before l)eeii taken ])risone"rs at 
Bie; Hill, Ky., and after being exchanged were armed 
with new Enfit^ld rifles, all of whieh fell into our boys' 
hands and took the place of arms nuich inferior. 

That was my first acquaintance with the Louis- 
ville & Nashville Railroad. We burned all the tres- 
tles on Muldraugh's Hill, and thus cut the connec- 
tions of the Federal army in Tennessee. 

THE INDIANA AND OHIO RAID. 

There are doubtless some here to-night who were 
on Morgan's remarkable raid into Indiana and Ohio, 
nearly fifty-six years ago. The fil'st brigade crossed 
the Cumberland River at Burksville, Ky., July 2, 
1863, when it was out of its banks, floating driftwood, 
and fully a quarter of a mile wide. The crossing of 
our twenty-four hundred men and horses was ef- 
fected by unsaddling and driving the horses into the 
swollen stream, twenty or thirty at a time, and let- 
ting them swim to the opposite bank, where they were 
caught and hitched, while the men went over in two 
flat-boats and a couj)le of indifferent canoes. I shall 
never forget the perilous position I was in on that 
occasion. There were twelve of us, who crossed over 
between sundown and dark, Avitli our twelve saddles- 
in one canoe. The surging waters came lapping up to 
within three inches of the edges of the canoe, and on 
the upper side once in a while they splashed in. The 
two men at the oars were inexperienced, and made 
frequent mistakes during the passage, but finally 



11 

landed us safely on this side. I breathed much freer 
when I got out. 

On this raid, after the disastrous attack of July 
4, upon the stockade^ at Green River bridge, where 
we lost so many brave officers and men, we, the next 
day, drove Col. Charles Hanson's infantry regiment, 
the 2()th Kentucky, into the brick depot at Lebanon, 
Ky. Our troops surrounded the building, but were 
greatly exposed to the enemy's fire, and suffered 
under the heat of a broiling sun for four hours. Some 
of our men concealed themselves by lying down in or 
behind the tents just vacated by the Federal troops. 
When the order was given by Gen. Morgan to charge 
the enemy, I witnessed an admirable exhibition of 
courage on the part of Col. D. Howard Smith. He 
mounted his horse and led the assault himself, calling 
on us to follow him, in plain view of the enemy and 
under a terrific fire from the depot, not exceeding a 
hundred yards from our advancing columns. On 
the other side of the iDuilding, in the charge of the 
Second Kentucky, just before the surrender, Lieut. 
Thomas Morgan, a younger brother of Gen. Morgan 
was killed— shot through the heart. He was idolized 
by his regiment, and many of his comrades, infuriated 
by his death, in the excitement of the moment, would 
have shown no quarter to the Federal soldiers had 
it not been for the noble and magnanimous conduct 
of Gen. Morgan himself. Although stricken, witli 
ori(>f over the lifeless body of his favorite brother, 
and with his eves filled with tears, I saw him i-usli 



12 

to the fi'oiit inside the (lc])()t, and with drawn pistol 
in liand \\v stood Ix'twccn Col. Hanson's men and his 
own, and declared lie wonld slioot down the first one 
of his own men who molested a prisoner. And here 
I may ventnre the assertion that no officer in either 
army, as far as my knowledge extends, was kinder to 
prisoners or more considerate of their rights than 
Oen. Morgan. 

When our command crossed the Ohio River at 
Brandenburg, in two steamboats w^e had captured, 
I experienced some peculiar sensations as I set foot 
on Indiana soil and realized that I was engaged in 
a hostile invasion of my adopted State. I soon got 
over this feeling, however, and regarded our march 
into the enemy's country as one of the exigencies of 
w^ar and entii'ely justifiable. I was in the advance 
guard under Capt. Thomas H. Hines (afterward one 
of the judges of the Court of Appeals of Kentucky) 
through Indiana and Ohio, and was captured at Buf- 
fington Island. I rode dow^i eight horses on that 
raid, and although this mnnber was perhaps above 
the average to the man, there were doubtless fifteen 
thousand horses ridden at different times by Mor- 
gan's Men on the Indiana and Ohio raid. 

About seven hundred of our command under Col. 
Richard Morgan, surrendered at Butfington Island, 
and we were started dow^n the river on a l)()at next 
day in charge of some Ohio troops (the 12th Ohio 
Infrantry, as I recall), who treated us with great 
courtesy. (Jen. Morgan and the remainder of his 



13 

troops (except fouv Iniiidred of them under Col. 
Adam R. Johnson who crossed the Ohio river at 
Buffington Island and thus escaped) were not cap- 
tured until a week later. 

IMPKISONIVIENT AT CAMPS MORTON AND DOUGLAS. 

After our arrival in Cincinnati, we were shipped 
in box cars to Camp Morton at Indianapolis. I now 
began to appreciate what it was to be a prisoner of 
war, and that, too, within forty miles of the home of 
my parents. I was not entirely sure, either, of what 
would be the fate of a Rebel from the Hoosier State. 
I was, however, shown much kindness by one of the 
companies of the 71st Indiana Regiment, which con- 
stituted our prison guard. It was made up of my 
neighbor bo,ys in Putnam County, and they all seemed 
rejoiced to see me there. Through their intervention 
I received clothing and other necessaries from home 
and obtained an interview with my brothers and 
some of my old friends, who had learned of my cap- 
ture and came over to Indianapolis to see me. 

Remaining one month at Camp Morton, w^e w^re 
then sent to Camp Douglas, at Chicago. 

ESCAPE FROM CAMP DOIGLAS. 

On the night of October 16, 1863, having been con- 
fined in prison thi'ee months, accompanied by one of 
my messmates, William L. Cla}^, I tied my boots 
around my neck and in my sock feet climbed the 
prison fence, twelve feet high, between two guards 
and made my escape. I still have the handkerchief 



14 

Avliich I tied around my neck and from which my 
boots swung down my back under my coat, on that 
occasion. I have it here in my pocket. (This hand- 
kerchief was exhibited to the audience.) I have kept 
it all these fifty-five years. It is a cotton handker- 
chief of the bandana order. I do not know whether it 
is still intact or not. It seems to be in fairl}^ good 
condition. I have said I keep it, but the truth is my 
wife did so as a cherished relic. My brother, Dr. R. 
French Stone, who afterward practiced his profes- 
sion at Indianapolis until his death, five years ago, 
was then attending Rush Medical College at Chicago. 
We found him next morning after making my escape 
as he was entering the college building. He showed 
us over the city, and during the day we dined at the 
Adams House, an excellent hotel. It was the first 
"square meal" Clay and I had eaten in several 
months, and I have often thought since that it was 
the best dinner I ate during the war. 

My comrade and I left the city by the Illinois 
Central, going to Mattoon, thence to Terre Haute, 
where we tarried at a German hotel two days, most 
of the time playing pool, having written home to some 
of my family to meet me there. After seeing two of 
my brothers and obtaining some additional funds, 
we came by rail to Cincinnati, thence by boat to 
Foster's Landing, Ky., and from there footed it 
through Bracken, Nicholas and Bourbon Counties. 
Clay separated from me in the latter county. He 
died several years ago in this city, where he practiced 



15 

medicine, and is buried in our lot at Cave TTill. I 
attended his funeral. 

RECAPTURED IN BATH COUNTY. IMPRISONED IN JAIL AT 
MT. STERLING. 

I reached Bath Count}^ a few days afterward, and 
early one morning I was captured in the very house 
where I was born by a squad of home guards in 
charge of Dr. William S. Sharp, who was my father's 
family physician when we lived in Kentucky. I was 
taken to Mount Sterling, and there lodged in jail- 
in the dungeon. To keep the rats from eating my 
bread I tied it up to the wall with the chains which 
were said to have been used in the confinement of 
runaway slaves before the Civil War. My imprison- 
ment there, however, was greatly relieved by the visits 
of kind friends, among whom was the one destined 
to become my wife. I saw that old jail building every 
day, when at home, during the seven years I resided 
and practiced law in Mount Sterling from 1878 to 
1885, when I removed to Louisville. It had been con- 
verted into a dwelling-house, and was then owned by 
Col. Thomas Johnson, an ex-Confederate Colonel, 
who lived to be over ninety years of age. 

To make good my escape from Camp Douglas and 
to be again taken prisoner after getting five hundred 
miles on my way back to Dixie was extremely morti- 
fying. I was confined in jail at Mount Sterling two 
weeks, and was then started in a covered army wagon 
with other prisoners to Lexington. 



16 



ESCAPE AT WINCHESTER. 

Having serious apprehensions as to the reception 
I would meet witli at the hands of (len. Burbridge 
(who had about tliat time an un])h'asaut way of 
hanging and shooting such Rebels as he caught in 
Kentucky, having only a short time before so dis- 
posed of Walter Ferguson, one of Morgan's men, 
whom I knew^ quite well), T succeeded in making my 
escape in the nighttime at Winchester, eluding the 
vigihance of Lieut. Curtis and his thirty mounted 
guards, who tired a few^ harmless shots at me as I 
disappeared in the darkness. 

That night I made my way to Alpheus Lewds', an 
old gentleman who lived near oui' camp as w^e went 
South at the beginning of the w^ar. We had camped 
there around a sulphur spring. It w^as an exceeding- 
ly cold evening, the latter part of November. In 
crossing a water-gap over Stoner Creek, I slipped 
and fell into the w^ater and got pretty well soaked. 
I had on a suit of butternut jeans clothing, and in 
ten minutes after I had gotten out, the w^ater had 
frozen and my clothing rattled like sheet iron. I 
found my way to Lewis' home, and stayed there part 
of the night and then left, 1)ecause I had made some 
inquiries on the road, and was .fearful I might be 
caught if I remained all night. 

A few days later, finding no opportunity to get 
South, owing to the presence of Federal troops in 
Eastern Kentucky, with the aid of friends T got on 
the train at Paris, Ky., and went to Canada via Cin- 



17 

ciiiiiati, Toledo, and Detroit. I went from the house 
of a friend, residing near Mt. Sterling. A colored boy 
about eighteen years old named "Wash," was sent 
with UK^ to Paris. We rode horse-back, and he was 
to take my horse back. He knew I w^as a Confederate 
soldier, but he was faithful to his trust. He after- 
w^ard joined the Federal army. 

Just before entering Paris, I saw two guards in 
Federal uniform, and "Wash" told me there was 
difficulty in getting passes out of Paris, and it was 
right difficult to get into Paris. As soon as I saw 
these soldiers — I had to make up my mind quickly — 
I addressed them first, before they had time to say or 
do anything. I said "See here, gentlemen, I have 
got a boy here with me that is going to take my horse 
back. I am going to Cincinnati with stock, and I 
w^ant to know if he will need a pass to get out ?" One 
of the guards answered "No, that will be all right. 
We will recognize him and let him through," and 
so they did. 

SOJOIRN IN CANADA. 

I stayed in Canada, at Windsor and Kingsville, 
four months. During that winter (lS();-)-4) occurred 
cold New Year's Day. I went to a Methodist watch 
meeting the night before and stayed until after mid- 
night. When I got back to my hotel at Kingsville 
it was blustering and getting cold fast. The uvxi 
morning by seven or eight o'clock it was so cold that 
neither the 3"oung man that was with me nor myself 



18 

could hardly get out of bed. It was eighteen degrees 
below zero then, and got worse during the day. Lake 
Erie froze over from side to side so thick as to allow 
heavy teams to cross over it a distance of forty miles. 
Some Confederate prisoners who were confined at 
Johnson's Island made their escape on the ice to 
Canada. One of these in making his escape was 
wounded by the Federal guard and was taken to a 
farmhouse near Kingsville. Everybody skated in 
that country, and I soon learned the sport. A¥hile 
so engaged I became acquainted w^itli the Misses 
Harris, two handsome and refined young ladies, re- 
siding at Kingsville, who were the granddaughters 
of Simon Girty, the renegade. Their mother, ihv 
daughter of this infamous character in the pioneer 
days of our country, was then still living. 

I learned to make cigars while I was up there in 
Canada, and I got short of funds before I left, and 
my landhidy took my stock of cigars which I had 
left for a balance on my board-bill. It was very 
small, — only $1.75 a week for board and lodging. 

Wlien I w^ent to Canada, I got to tlie Hirons 
House in Windsor and thought I would register. I 
looked over the register to see if I knew anybody 
stopping there. I knew there was a lot of Confed- 
erates who had gotten out of Camp Douglas and gone 
to Canada. I looked over the page, and nearly every 
one whose signature I saw on it — I recognized a good 
many of them — had registered liis name. Company, 
Regiment, Brigade, Confederate States Army. 



19 

Thinks I, if they can so register, I can too. So T 
wrote my name in full with Company and Regiment, 
Gen. John H. Morgan's Command, C. S. A. 

RETURN TO KENTUCKY. 

When I prepared to leave Canada, I knew a Con- 
federate soldier was watched by detectives from 
across the Detroit River. I got on the train from the 
East as it slowed up and came into Windsor. I do not 
recall whether it was a Grand Trunk train or the 
Canadian Pacific, but at any rate I got off the train 
before we reached the depot, and some detective evi- 
dently saw me. When I got out among the other 
passengers and undertook to get on the ferry boat, he 
was following me. Thinks I, this won't do, and I got 
oft* and mixed up with the other passengers again. 
After eluding him, I went down in the engine room 
of the ferry boat, and stayed there until I crossed 
over to Detroit, and he was thus unable to find me. 

Another thing: I thought I had become pretty 
well known, and to disguise myself, I had my hair 
dyed before leaving Windsor. You can imagine 
what a sight I was. My moustache and chin whiskers 
were dyed a deep black with nitrate of silver or some 
sort of preparation. I paid five dollars for it, I 
know. In that way, I came on to Kentucky without 
being detected. I came to Covington, and at a restaur- 
ant there I sat right opposite a man that was with me 
and knew me w^ell in Windsor. He had gone up 
there, I think, to evade the draft. He did not recog- 



20 

iiiz(» mv at all. I did not say anything to him, nor he 
to nie. T was pretty well disguised. 

It was in April, 1864, when I returned to Ken- 
tucky from Canada. While watching a chance to go 
back to the Confederacy, I worked on a farm three 
weeks near Florence, in Boone County, a town after- 
ward celebrated, in John Uri Lloyd's novel, as 
''8tringtown-on-the-Pike." While there I visited, on 
Sundays, my aunt and family, who lived nearby. 

BACK WITHIN THE CONFEDERATE LINES. 

On General Morgan's last raid into the State, I 
joined a small portion of his forces near Mount Ster- 
ling, having made my way to them alone on horseback 
from Boone County. By the w^ay, I got my horse — 
borrow^ed it, of course — from the enemy. There were 
a lot of Clovernment horses in the neighborhood 
w^here I w^as at work. On reaching Virginia, in June, 
1864, I attached myself temporarily to Capt. »Tames 
E. Cantrill's battalion, wliich w^as a remnant of Gen. 
Morgan's old command, with which I remained until 
the following October, when after the defeat of Gen. 
Burbridge at the battle of Saltville I got with my old 
regiment, commanded by Col. Breckinridge then 
forming a part of Gen. John S. Williams' Brigade. 
Meantime Gen. Morgan was killed at Greenville, 
Tenn., on September 4, 1864, where I w^as present as 
a member of Cantrill's battalion (under the com- 
mand of Gen. Duke, who had been exchanged), and 
a few days later was one of those who w^ent, 
with a flag of truce, to recover his dead body, 



21 

which was sent to Richmond, Va., for burial. After 
the war it was disinterred and l)roug'ht to Lexington, 
Ky., whose beautiful cemetery is its last resting 
place. In that city in later years, as you know, a 
magnificent and life-like equestrian monument to our 
beloved General 's memory was dedicated in the pres- 
ence of a vast throng of people, including many sur- 
vivors of his old command. 

SHERMAN'S MARCH THROUGH GEORGIA. 

We returned to Georgia in time to follow in the 
rear of Sherman in his "march to the sea." Under 
Gen. Wheeler, as we followed in the path of desola- 
tion left by Sherman's army, we were daily engaged 
with Gen. Kilpatrick's cavalry, and for eight days 
were without bread or meat, living on sweet potatoes 
alone, the only food left from destruction by the 
Federal troops. The first meat we ate after this fast 
was some fresh beef, which we found in a camp from 
which we had just driven the enemy before they had 
had time to cook and eat it. 

THE SURRENDER. 

WHien the news of Gen. Lee's surrender was re- 
ceived, our brigade was at Raleigh, N. C. President 
Davis and his Cabinet officers joined us at Greens- 
boro, N. C., and our command escorted them from 
there to Washington, Ga., where it disbanded. I rode 
to Augusta, Ga., with Lieut. William Messick, who 
was from Danville, Ky., and there I surrendered to 
the 18th Indiana Infantry Regiment, then occupying 
the city, and received my parole May 9, 1865. 



22 

Before we were disbanded at Washington, Ga.. 
the remnants of the funds of the Confederate States, 
in specie, that liad been liauled by wagons through 
from Richmond, was distributed among the troops at 
that time. I remember the men of our brigade got 
$26.00 a piece. Most of it was in Mexican dollars, 
silver money. I brought it home with me. Fortunate- 
ly, I had enough to get home on without using that 
money, and, after our marriage, my wife and T 
thought it would be a good idea to have that silver 
made into spoons. We took it down to Duhme & 
Company, at Cincinnati, and enjoined upon them to 
use that silver, and no other, in a set of tablespoons, 
and those spoons are on our table today. 

No man can fully or correctly appreciate the 
value of personal liberty who has never been a pris- 
oner. At least three-fourths of Morgan's men felt 
what it was to endure the fearful life of a Northern 
military prison, and many of them were humiliated 
by incarceration in the loathsome dungeons and cells 
of penitentiaries while prisoners of war. Fortu- 
nately for me, I escaped from Camp Douglas in time 
to avoid the starvation policy subsequently inaugu- 
rated there, which was said to have been enfoi'ced 
by way of retaliation for the treatment Federal pris- 
oners received at Andersonville, Ga. The difference 
between the two was that at Andersonville the Con- 
federates did not have the food to give the prisoners, 
while in the North, the Federal authorities had 
plenty, and refused to supply it to Confederate pris- 



23 

oners in sufficient quantities. Of the seven members 
of our mess Clay and I left in Camp Douglas, three 
died there, one took the oath, and the other three, 
after twenty-one months of horrid prison life, were 
exchanged a few weeks before the close of the war. 
Only one of these three is now alive. He is living in 
Montgomery County, near Mount Sterling. Of the 
three who died there, one was James Richard Allen, 
who, in the presidential campaign of 1860 by the 
"Hoosier Boys" referred to, was the representative 
of Douglas ; and afterward, in 1862, came South, and 
joined the Confederate Army as I had done. He 
had been captured somewhere in Virginia, as I now 
recall. 

DARING SPIRIT OF MORGAN'S MEN. 

The same restless, daring spirit that actuated 
Morgan's men in the field characterized them in 
prison, and out of eighteen hundred prisoners taken 
on the Indiana and Ohio raid not less than six hun- 
dred of them escaped from Camps Morton and Doug- 
las. I have heard that one of the Chicago news- 
papers stated during the war that even if Morgan's 
men had done nothing to distinguish them before 
their capture on the raid through Indiana and Ohio, 
they had immortalized themselves by their wonder- 
fully successful escapes from prison. 

The extraordinary escape of Gen. Morgan him- 
self, together with Capts. Hines, Sheldon, Taylor, 
Hockersmith, Bennett and McGee, from the Ohio 
State Prison, stands without a parallel in military 



24 

history. You cannot imagine m}^ surprise after get- 
ting on tlie ears at Paris en route to Canada, on ilic 
occasion ali'eady referred to, in December, 18())5. 
when I picked up a Cincinnati Daily Gazette, some 
passenger had left on the seat, and read the graphic 
account of this unexpected escape of our General and 
six of his Captains the night before. My heart 
leaped with joy at the news, but I dared not give 
expression to my delight by the utterance of a word. 

INCIDENT ON FERRY BOAT AT COVINGTON. 

Getting on the ferry boat at Covington on the 
Kentucky side, on my trip to Canada, just as it was 
landing coming over from the Cincinnati side, I saw 
ten or fifteen steps ahead of me my uncle, Higgins 
Lane, and my aunt, his wife, from Indiana. He was 
my mother's brother, whom I dearh^ loved, but kncAV 
to be an intense Union man. And uncle as he was, I 
w^as afraid that he would expose me and have me 
arrested. I immediately dodged around the boat and 
did not see him any more. I learned afterward that 
I had misjudged him, and done him an injustice. He 
announced that he would not have thought of such a 
thing as having me arrested. At my home at Owings- 
ville, in Bath County, after the war, my wife and T 
had the pleasure of entertaining him and my aunt as 
hospitably as was in our power. 



25 

INCIDENT AT THE ISLAND HOUSE IN TOLEDO. 

I may further relate, on that trip to Canada, I 
stopped at the Island House in Toledo. I thought 
I would go into Detroit in daylight, and see where I 
was going when I got there, and crossed the river 
into Canada. I registered at the hotel mentioned as 
usual, and went up to supper on the next floor. After 
I finished and was walking out of the dining room, a 
fellow stepped up behind me and said : "I guess we 
will settle right here. ' ' Well, one has to think pretty 
fast under those circumstances. He impressed me 
as a detective, who thought he had found his man. I 
said, "Settle for what?" He responded, "Settle for 
your supper." I was greath^ relieved. I said, "Why, 
my dear sir, I have registered here at this hotel and 
expect to stay all night." He said, "Well, that is dif- 
ferent. Then I will go down and see the register. ' ' I 
was in the habit of registering at hotels under almost 
any sort of name that occurred to me at the time. 1 
never registered under my own name, and I had to 
look at the register to see what it was. I knew I 
could tell my handwriting. When I got up to the 
register and saw what it was, I said, "There it is." 
Said he, "That's all right." 

COL. GEORGE ST. LEGER GRENFELL. 

Most of the survivors of Gen. Morgan 's command 
remember that brave and gallant soldier, Col. George 
St. Leger Grenfell, who came to us and w^as on Gen. 
Morgan's staff, after long and faithful service in the 
British army. He did me a kindness during the 



26 

war, wliich I have remembered with gratitude ever 
since. By an accident my liorse's back had become 
so sore he conld not be ridden, and in the fall of 1862, 
while leading him and wearily walking in the cohimn 
over a mountain road in East Tennessee, Col. Gren- 
fell came riding by, accompanied b}^ a subordinate, 
who had in cliarge a led horse. Observing m}^ plight, 
he stopped, and asked me the cause; and when told, 
requested me to mount his led horse, and when mine 
got well to return his to him, which offer I gladly 
accepted. 

Afterward, Col. Grenfell, for alleged complicity 
in the plot to release the Confederate prisoners from 
Camp Douglas, was arrested by the Federal author- 
ities and sentenced to imprisonment at Fort Jeffer- 
son, Tortugas Island. In April, 1867, my brother, 
Maj. Valentine H. Stone, of the 5th United States 
Regular Artillery, who had been stationed at For- 
tress Monroe for eighteen months, was assigned to 
take command at Fort Jefferson. He was two years 
older than I, and he was the brother who, as one of 
the "Hoosier Boys," advocated the cause of Bell and 
Everett in 1860. He afterward went into the Army, 
the 5th Regular U. S. Artillery. I will have 
more to say of him directly. On learning where 
he had been assigned, I wrote to him, giving an ac- 
count of Col. Grenfell 's kindness to me on the occa- 
sion referred to, and requesting him to do all in his 
power, consistent with his duty, to alleviate the 
prison life of my old army friend, who was, as a true 



27 

soldier and sentlemaii, worthy of such consideration. 
With this request there was a faithful compliance 
on the part of my brother, whicli CoL Grenfell grate- 
fully appreciated. I was permitted to correspolid ' 
with Col. Grenfell, and several letters passed be- 
tween us. 

In September, 1867, yellow fever broke out at 
Fort Jefferson. Col. Grenfell, having had large ex- 
perience with this dreadful disease, faithfully mii'sed 
all who were stricken* down among the garrison as 
well as other prisoners. My brother's wife was one 
of the first victims. After her death, my brother 
started North with his little three-year-old boy, but 
was taken ill o.f- yellow fever while aboard the vessel, 
and died at Key West. In a letter written by Col. . 
Grenfell the next day, in w-hich he gave me an ac- 
count of my brother's death, he stated: 

I deeply regret that his leaving this i)lace 
prevented my nursing him throughout the mal- 
ady. Care does more than doctors, and he had 
great confidence in my nursing. * * * I am 
tired and grieved, having been now^ twenty-one 
days and nights by the bedsides of the sick (last 
night was my first night passed in bed) — grieved 
on account of the death of your brother, who 
was the only officer that ever showed me any 
kindness since I first came here. I wish I could 
say that they had not been positively inimical 
and cruel. But your brother's arrival put an 
end to all that. I am much afraid that the old 
system will soon again be in force. 



28 

From this grand old soldier I received a few 
months later the following interesting letter: 

Fort Jefferson, January 15, 1868. 
H. L. Stone, Esq. — Dear Sir: Your always wel- 
come letter of the 22nd of December was duly 
I'eceived, and, believe me, I appreciate and re- 
ciprocate your kind expressions of regard. I 
owe to your friendship the knowledge imparted 
to Gen. Basil Duke that the heavy restrictions 
placed on me for no fault of mine by former 
commanders had been removed by the humanity 
of your poor brother, and T am happy to say 
that the present commander, Maj. Andrews, 
walks in Maj. Stone's steps. As long a?; our con- 
duct is good, we need fear no punishment. I was 
rather afi'aid when I read in your letter that you 
had published mine to you. I do not know what 
I wrote, but believe that you would not have 
done so if I had said anything unguardedly 
which might get me into trouble. This is not to 
be wondered at when I tell you tluit I was shut 
up in a close dungeon for ten months, every ori- 
fice carefully stopped up except one for air. de- 
nied speech with any one, light, books, or papers. 
I could neither write nor receive letters. I was 
gagged twice, tied up by the thumbs twice, three 
times drowned (I am not exaggerating), and all 
this for having written an account to a friend 
of some punishment inflicted on soldiers and 
prisoners here, and the bare truth only, which 
statement he (Gen. Johnson) published in the 
New York World. I fear, therefore, giving pub- 
licity to anything; not that I am afraid of Maj. 



29 

Andrews (I have really not a fault to find with 
him), but tigers have claws and sometimes use 
them. 

It was gratifying to hear that your poor little 
orphan nephew arrived safely at his maternal 
grandfather's. I knew little of the chikl, but 
from what I heard he was a very shrewd one. 
He was too young to feel his loss deeply. I have 
two cypresses which I am taking care of (they 
came from Havana) and mean to place on Mrs. 
Stone's grave, which is on an island about a mile 
from this. 

Maj. Stoner's bridal trip was nearly turned 
into a funeral. (I forget that instance. T wrote 
him something about it. Perhaps some of you 
remember Maj. Stoner's bridal trip when he 
married Miss Rogers. He had some troul)le with 
the conductor. I forget now what it was.) 

What a savage the conductor must have been ! 
The Major wanted two or three of his command 
to be near him at the time of the assault. 

Basil Duke and Charlton Morgan write that 
they are busy enlisting in my favor all the influ- 
ence that they can command — Mr. G. Pendleton 
and others. I have also a very good letter from 
a Mrs. Bell, of Garrettsville, Ky., wife of Capt. 
Darwin Bell, who promises that Garrett Smith 
and some other friends of hers will interest 
themselves to procure my release. She read in 
some local paper an extract from, I suppose, my 
letter to you, and she says: ''My husband, who 
bears a kindly remembrance of you in the .war, 
and myself, felt ashamed to sit over our happy 
fireside whilst his old comrade was wearing out 



30 

liis life ill captivity, and we determined to work 
until we obtained your liberty." I have also a 
letter from Mr. S." M. Barlow, of New Yorl^, a 
prominent Democrat and friend of Mr. Joliii- 
son's. He had written to the President and to 
Gen. Grant, but had received no direct answer; 
but Montgomery Blair, whom he had commis- 
sioned to see the PrCvSident, says: "I have seen 
the l*resident for Grenfell. He has promised to 
try to pardon him, although he says there are 
several hard points in his case." Yes, the case 
is full of hard points, but they all run into me. 
The hardship is mine. I do not build much on 
all this, and 3'et if a regular system of petition 
was gotten up by many influential parties at once 
the President might yield. I wish that my 
friends by a concerted movement, combined with 
the Archbishops of Ohio and Missouri, R. C, 
would petition His Excellency. Bishop Quin- 
tard, of Tennessee, W'Ould, I am convinced, will- 
ingly help an old friend and comrade. But, alas ! 
I am in prison and can combine nothing. 

I shall be happy to receive your scrawls, as 
you call them, whenever you have time to indite 
one, although I can offer yoii nothing but wails 
and lamentations in return. 

Whilst you are blowing your fingers' ends 
from cold, I keep close to on open window with 
one blanket only, and that oftener off than on. 
I have tomatoes, peppers, and melons in full 
bloom. Salad, radishes, and peas and beans at 
maturity in the open air, of course. Tn fact, T 
am obliged to use sun shades from ten to three 
all through the garden, for be it know^n to you 



31 

they have turned my sword into a shovel and a 
rake, and I am at the head of my profession 
here. What I say or do (horticulturally) is h\w. 
Other changes than this are made here. A 
k'arned physician, Dr. Mudd, has descended to 
playing the fiddle for drunken soldiers to dance 
to or form part of a very miser ahle orchestra at 
a still more miserable theatrical performance. 
Wonders never cease, but my paper does; so I 
will simply wish you a happy New Year and 
subscribe myself your sincere friend, 

a. St. L. Grenfell. 

Some time after this letter was written, how long 
I do not remember, Col. Grenfell undertook to make 
his escape from the Dry Tortugas in a small boat on 
a stormy night, hoping to be able to reach the Cuban 
coast, but was never heard of afterward. 

MAJ. VALENTINE HUGHES STONE. 

My brother, Maj. Stone, while in command at 
Fortress Monroe, requested and obtained from Pres- 
ident Jefferson Davis an autograph letter addressed 
to myself, believing that I would prize it very highly, 
and delivered it to me at a faniily revmion at my 
father's house, in Cai'pentersville, l^itnam County, 
Ind., in May, 1866. I still have this original letter 
in my possession, having placed it in a frame for 
preservation. It is as follows : 

Capt. Ily. L. Stone— My Dear Sir: Accept 
my best wishes for your welfare and happiness. 



32 

It is better to deserve success than to attain it. 
Your friend, 

Jelfn. Davis. 

Here (showing it) is that autograph letter. If 
any of you would like to see it, I have it here for that 
purpose. I have preserved it since I received it fifty- 
three years ago from my brother. 

Speaking of my brother being in charge of For- 
tress Monroe (which was after the cruel treatment 
of Jefferson Davis at the hands of his predecessor), 
in the book of Mrs. Davis on the life of her husband, 
and in the book of Dr. Cravens, I believe it was, they 
speak of my brother's kindness to President Davis 
while he was in charge at Fortress Monroe, and be- 
fore he went to the Dry Tortugas. 

In February, 1868, the remains of Maj. Stone 
and wife were removed and re-interred in Montgom- 
ery Cemetery, overlooking the Schuylkill River, at 
Norristow^n, l^enn., the home city of his father-in- 
hiw, Judge Midvaney. Some ten years ago my 
brother. Dr. Stone, and I caused a monument to be 
erected over our brother's grave, with the following 
inscription thereon: 

Valentine Hughes Stone, Major Fifth Artil- 
lery, U. S. Army. Born in Bath County, Ky., 
December 22, 1839, and died aboard the steamer 
from Fort Jefferson to Key West, Fla., Sept. 
24, 18()7. lie was enrolled April 18, and mus- 
tered into service April 22, 18(11, in the 11th In- 
diana Infantry Volunteers, Gen. Lew AVall ace's 



33 

Regiment of Zouaves, being the first Volunteer 
from Putnam County, Ind., to respond to the 
call of President Lincoln. He was ai)pointed 
First Lieutenant, 5th U. S. Artillery, May 14, 
1861; was the heroic defender of Jones' Bridge 
across the Chickahominy in the Seven Days' 
Battles about Richmond. In command of Bat- 
tery No. 9 his artillery was the first to enter 
Petersburg, Va., March 25, 1865. He was pro- 
moted to be Captain and brevetted Major, same 
regiment, upon the personal request of General 
U. 8. Grant, for gallant and meritorious services 
on the battle field. He died of yellow fever while 
in command of Fort Jefferson, Drv Tortugas, 
Gulf of Mexico. 

This monument was erected and dedicated to 
his memory by his brothers, Henry L. 8tone, 
who served in the Confederate Army, and R. 
French Stone, who served in the Union Army, 
during the Civil War. 

THE COURSE OF EX-CONFEDERATE SOLDIERS SINCE THE 

CIVIL WAR. 

The course of ex-Confederates since the war 
closed deserves, as a rule, the highest commendation. 
As far as my observation extends, good soldiers in 
time of war make good citizens in time of peace. The 
foils and hardships of army life fit and prepare them 
for the battles of civil life. The success of ex-Con- 
federates as civilians has been commensurate witli 
their success as soldiers, Kentucky has selected 
from Morgan's men some of her highest legislative, 
judicial and executive officers. From our ranks this 



34 

and other States have been furnished mechanics, 
fai'niers, merchants, bankers, teachers, physicians, 
lawyei's, and ministers of the gospel. There was 
liardly a neii;liborhood in Kentucky in which there 
did not reside after the war closed one or more ex- 
Confederate soldiers, while many became useful and 
honored citizens of other States. Coming out of the 
army, most of them ragged and poor, some of them 
crippled for life, with no Government pension to de- 
pend upon, they went to work for a living, and their 
labors have not gone unrewarded. 

DRY-GOODS CLERK AFTER THE WAR. 

I want to say for myself, I got back from the Civil 
War in the summer of 1865. For four months, I 
clerked in a dry goods store at Ragland's Mills, on 
licking River, in the east end of Bath County. How 
nuich do you reckon my salary was ? I got my board 
and $12.50 a month! I am glad to say I receive, in 
my present position, a little more than that now. 

SPECIAL PARDON. 

After the surrender in April, 1865, President 
Andrew Johnson issued a proclamation, whereby the 
i-ights of citizenship were withheld from certain 
(^lasses who participated in waging war against the 
United States Government, among whom were those 
who had left a loyal State aiid joined the Confed- 
' erate Army. It became necessary, therefore, for me 
to o])tain a special pardon f rdm the President, which 



35 

I did in the summei- of 1865, through the aid of my 
uncle, Henry S. Lane, then United States Senator 
from Indiana. 

THE PRESENT AND FUTURE. 

Most of us have passed far beyond the meridian 
of life, but I trust there is much usefulness in store 
for us yet. We should not content ourselves with 
the victories and honors of the past. The present and 
future have demands upon us. The welfare of our 
respective communities and States, as well as of our 
common country, calls for our continued labors in 
their behalf. 

I shall always remember a remark made by my 
friend, Jerry R. Morton, of Lexington (one of Mor- 
gan's men, and, for many years after the war, Cir- 
cuit Judge of that district), who has passed on ahead 
of us, one day while we were in Canada together. 
We were walking along the Detroit River, and as 
we took in the broad landscape view that stretched 
out before us, and saw the United States flag floating 
from a fort below the city on the other side, he 
stopped and, pointing across the river, exclaimed: 
"I tell you, Stone, that's a great country over yon- 
der I" I acknowledged the correctness of his esti- 
mate of the American republic. Standing on foreign 
soil, poor, self-exiled Rebels as we were, we did not 
feel at liberty to call this our couiiti>- then. But all 
of us have the right to call it our country today. 
With peace and prosperity tliioughout the land and 



36 

all sections again united in fraternal feeling, we 
have, even in this progressive age, beyond question 
the greatest country in the world. 

Tn the world war that has practically, if not en- 
tirely, closed, we know what our country did for the 
cause of human liberty. The boys in khaki went 
across the seas, — the descendants of those who wore 
the gray and those who wore the blue, and they 
turned the tide of battle against the foe. That is con- 
ceded. We are today looked up to by all the nations 
of Europe to bring about a Treaty of Peace, and a 
League of Nations, that will prevent, as far as pos- 
sil)le, wars for the future. We have, in my opinion, 
dealing with that situation and laboring with it in 
Paris, as great a President as this country has ever 
had ; and if he comes back home, as I believe he will, 
with this League of Nations secured, and a Treaty 
of Peace that shall do justice to all the belligerents, 
including our recent foes, as well as the other nations 
of the world, he will go down in history, in my 
opinion, as the greatest statesman of all time — 
Woodrow Wilson. May God bless him! [Great ap- 
plause.] 



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